White supremacist rally allowed without bond

JENA, La. (AP)  A white supremacist group will be allowed to hold a rally here on Martin Luther King Day without posting a $10,000 bond after a federal judge questioned the constitutionality of the law requiring the bond, officials said Friday.

The Nationalist Movement, based in Learned, Miss., wants to protest a march held last September to support the Jena 6, a group of black teenagers charged in the beating of a white schoolmate on Dec. 4, 2006, as he walked out of Jena High School's gym headed to a class.

The September rally drew thousands in support of the teenagers.

The predominantly white town of about 3,000 in central Louisiana wanted the Nationalist Movement, which calls itself a "pro-majority" group, to post the bond and meet other restrictions ahead of its requested Jan. 21 rally.

The group challenged the ordinance in federal court and a judge indicated during pretrial conferences that the city ordinance was constitutionally "faulty," Mayor Murphy R. McMillin said.